PRIME is the former employer of Corby Somerville, Hannan’s opponent for Port commissioner in Tuesday’s election.

He called the advertisement “a lie” and a last-minute election ploy.

One of the sponsors of the pro-Hannan ad said it had to do with what he considered to be low berthage rates for PRIME’s ship repair customers.

Hannan said he did not review the ad before it appeared but “did not see anything wrong” with it.

The fifth paragraph of the ad, titled “Taxpayers for Bill Hannan,” said:

“The topside repair companies have received over $700,000 in taxpayer subsidies already this year” and noted that Port commissioners on Oct. 24 withdrew $390,000 out of reserves to balance the Port’s budget.

The ad was sponsored by George Schoenfeldt, the secretary-treasurer of Local 27 of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, and by longshoremen Tom Bond and Tom Jacobsen and “other Bill Hannan supporters.”

This full report appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News Clallam edition, on sale throughout Clallam County. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.